Flexible pouches with and without a tube spout fitment and a dispensing cap are known. Most pouches with tube spout fitments commonly include the fitment within a seam along a side edge of the pouch. Location of the fitment within the seam can facilitate the manufacturing process since the tube spout fitment can be positioned along a side edge of a sheet and the sheet folded onto the fitment and sealed thereto. However, such pouches must be physically manipulated so as to drain the contents of the pouch through the spout fitment. As such, it would be desirable to have a pouch with the tube spout fitment located along or within the body of the pouch so as to dispense contents of the pouch using gravity.
Installing the tube spout fitment along the body of the pouch requires precision. In particular, the tube spout fitment must be precisely placed within an aperture formed in a pouch panel with failure resulting in an improper seal between the panel and the fitment. As such, it would be desirable to have a process for installing the tube spout fitment that is cost effective and yet precise with respect to placing the fitment within the aperture.
In addition to the above, distribution of flexible pouches with a tube spout fitment is often performed by packaging a plurality of pouches into a shipping container and transporting the container to a location where the pouches are filled with a product. However, once the dispensing cap is placed on or attached to the tube spout fitment, the cap can be difficult to remove from the fitment in order to allow filling of the pouch. As such, tube spout fitment-type pouches are often package and transported without, or before, the dispensing cap is attached to the fitment. Although packaging and transportation in this manner solves the problem of removing the dispensing cap from the tube spout fitment, the absence of the cap can allow dust, dirt, etc., to enter the interior of the pouch through the fitment. Therefore, a process and/or tube spout fitment-dispensing cap combination that prevents such contamination of the interior of the pouch during shipping would be desirable.